Demographic statistics findings made public on June 5 by the health and welfare ministry has confirmed what is already well known: Japan's population will steadily decline unless effective measures are taken in a timely manner. The government and enterprises must waste no time in implementing policies that will encourage couples to have more children.
The ministry said that the total fertility rate in 2011 — the average number of children a woman will give birth to in her lifetime — was 1.39, the same as in 2010. When the birth rate is less than 2.07, total population begins to decline. Japan's total fertility rate, 4.54 in 1947, fell below 2.0 in 1975 and has remained so since. The rate marked a record low for five straight years from 2001 and hit bottom in 2005. The latest figure shows that the total fertility rate, which had been slowly recovering since 2006, is now at a standstill. For the first time, the average age at which women have their first child topped 30 — 30.1 or 0.2 years up from 2010.
In 2011, the number of women aged 15 to 49 was about 200,000 less than in 2010. The total fertility rate is based on the average number of children a woman at each age of this age group gives birth to in a given year. The fertility rate of women in their 30s and 40s increased in 2011, causing the total fertility rate to level off.